So… it’s a long story but basically, we’re down to one income for now (and by now I mean the next 6 months to a year). We’ve got one measly waitress salary to get us by. Praise God, though, it might actually be enough.

Through our marriage, Ken and I have had very limited financial resources. Now, without the weekly meals at our parents’ houses, we have to rely on what Ireland deems a “liveable salary”. (Sorry if you hate hearing about finances but I honestly feel like fewer young people would struggle if the older generations actually shared how they used their money so..) here’s a breakdown:

I’m contracted for 35 hours of work a week, which means I make €1355 a month, after tax. In reality I make a bit more than that depending on how many hours I work — usually 37–39 hours a week.

Rent: €850
Rates: €50
Groceries: €200
Airtime: €20
Coffee: €40
Phone Contract: €40
Spending Money: €80
Dates/ Adventures: €80

Total expenses: €1360

Let me break it down further:

Rent is self-explanatory, its a double room in a big town in Dublin in the middle of a housing crisis. Not cheap.

Rates depend on what the household spends each month — this includes gas, electricity, water, bins, wifi. Our first month we simply paid €20 for bins but the amount can change every month. We’re praying we don’t get hit with the €100 we were quoted when we moved in.

Groceries:

We try to keep our groceries under €50 a week. This is a very small amount. I eat a full meal every day at The Grill which cuts our costs a bit. I’ve always felt that in general people seem to struggle to buy groceries in the right quality or buy food for full meals without it costing a fortune. I’m working on putting together some booklets that include the list of groceries and recipes to feed 2 people for a week on a budget of €50.

Airtime and Phone Contract:

Ken’s phone broke the other day. It was one expense we really weren’t expecting but we managed to fit it into our budget (just). Basically, my extra hours each week cover the phone.

Spending money and Coffee:

Ken always reminds me of a quote he heard on some video that says “Don’t give up coffee, get paid more”. We can’t be expected to work hard without reward. Without things to look forward to. We agreed to give each other €10 a week as spending money and €20 a month for coffees/treats. Because a frugal life doesn’t need to be a boring one.

Adventures/ Dates:

Romance in a marriage is absolutely vital. You cannot expect to go through a difficult time (financial or not) without constantly coming back together and enjoying time together. I’m putting together a series on Instagram called “Dates under €30” — with the intention of sharing cheap but great date ideas.
The rule in our house is that we go on a date every 2 weeks and we alternate who plans it. That date can be a sight-seeing adventure (which usually costs more) but the total budget for the month stays €80 — it’s basic math, I’m sure you understand.

Savings and Other Expenses:

Which brings us to the question of other expenses; because there are always other expenses…

As I said, I do tend to make a bit more than €1355 a month and we do still have some savings we can chip into during this time. Every 3 months or so I get a small amount in tips — which is nice. And Ken and I are both used to catching the odd freelancing job here and there.

This does not leave us any room for dedicated savings. Many people say that the ideal model for spending your income is 20% savings – which is just not a realistic number for people living on such a tight budget. I’ve already made my argument as to why the coffees and spending money and adventures are there and not being stored as digits in a bank account (so I won’t repeat it). As it stands we have no definite saving plan. The rule for us, is simple, anything we don’t spend, is savings. We’re not saving for anything crazy right now (like a house or car) all we want to do with our money is explore and that mostly comes out of our adventure money anyway. When Ken is working our goal is to save 3 months worth of income before making any massive purchases or getting any sort of credit. It’s just smart. But for now, it’s not our biggest concern.

We’re not scared. We know we rest in the hands of our God and our Father, who will not let us go hungry or without clothes. We have seen his provision again and again and again and we know that we can trust Him to get us through anything that might arise.

Hope this helped!

With love, from Dublin
Cheylin

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all of these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own.” — Matthew 6:32–34